Once a year, the Queen visits Scotland for a week. Holyrood Week This means that this week is a must on the Queen’s calendar and so Elizabeth II traveled to Edinburgh on Monday. The Queen lives there in the palace of Holyroodhouse, where she invited thousands of guests to a garden party on Wednesday afternoon. However, the Queen was not present this time, she was represented by Prince Charles. Like her platinum anniversary celebrations, the Queen only attended select appointments in Scotland this week, one of which was the welcome of Nicola Sturgeon.
The Scottish prime minister brought with him a number of gifts, including one thing in particular to the Queen: “It must be whiskey.” “That’s whiskey,” agreed Sturgeon, before going on about the other gifts. The queen was pleased: “Well, what a good thing”, what a good thing. It was not known whether the encounter went so cordial as the cameras had to leave the room after being greeted with whiskey. To avoid misunderstandings, Sturgeon made at least one thing clear before the meeting: If Scotland one day became independent, the Queen would remain head of state.
She joined the SNP to oppose Margaret Thatcher’s policies
The question of whether Scotland can leave the United Kingdom has again been the subject of intense debate this week. Sturgeon sparked an argument once again. The 51-year-old is the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and has been the head of government in Edinburgh since 2014. She is known to be extremely determined, some stubbornly say, in no case should it have been a coincidence that she announced a new independence referendum the day before her meeting with the Queen.
Independence from the British has been a concern for Sturgeon since she joined the SNP at the age of 16. She became a member of Margaret Thatcher to curb conservative politics, she once said. Sturgeon, who is married to a snper, describes herself as a feminist and pacifist. Above all, she is a proud Scot who wants to finally realize her dream of independence. On October 19, 2023, his compatriots are about to vote for the second time.
For him, Brexit was a turning point in his relationship with England.
So the question is, will Brexit come after Skexit? Sturgeon would love nothing more than this. He remembers how he was in the first referendum in 2014. 55 percent voted to remain part of the UK. For Sturgeon, that was a slap in the face. Little did he know then that two years later he would get hurt again. In 2016, a majority of Britain voted to leave the European Union. For Sturgeon, this was a turning point in relations between England and Scotland. The two countries have been united since the Act of Union in 1707. From Sturgeon’s perspective, however, Brexit changed the premise of business. In the end, Scots voted 62 percent of the referendum for Great Britain to remain in the European Union.
Since then, the number of supporters of Scottish independence has first risen, then declined. Currently, 45 percent will vote in favour, 46 percent against. Many are undecided, approval was sometimes higher. Sturgeon doesn’t like hearing this, but it’s clear to him that as long as Boris Johnson, who is unpopular in Scotland, is the British prime minister, chances are not bad. The problem, however, is that it requires the approval of the British government for the referendum, which Johnson vehemently refuses. It seems that the UK Supreme Court will rule on the legality of the sturgeon’s maneuver. In any case, giving up is out of the question for him. And with all the struggle for independence from the kingdom, even for Sturgeon: God Save the Queen.
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